1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a manual film winding device of a single lens reflex (SLR) camera in which a quick return mirror and a focal plane shutter are charged in association with a manual winding mechanism and the manual winding operation thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, an SLR camera, for example, an SLR camera using a Brownie film (120 type or 220 type i.e., medium format film) (hereinafter referred to as a Brownie film camera) uses a manual film winding mechanism. In such a camera, a focal plane shutter and a quick return mirror are arranged to be charged in association with the film winding mechanism.
Conventionally, such a Brownie film camera includes a manual film winding lever and a roller which is rotated by the swinging operation of the film winding lever to advance a film. The camera is provided with a film advance stop mechanism which prevents the film from advancing more than one frame length when the roller rotation reaches a predetermined rotation amount (film advance amount of one frame) even though the winding lever does not reach a final winding end position.
The camera is also provided with a double winding preventing mechanism and a film loading (feeding) mechanism. The double winding preventing mechanism inhibits the winding operation of the film winding lever unless the shutter is released. The film loading (feeding) mechanism advances the film to the position where the first frame faces an aperture of the camera in connection with the winding operation of the winding lever. The film is advanced to the position without charging the focal plane shutter and the quick return mirror after a start mark formed on a backing paper of a Brownie film loaded in the camera is aligned to an index provided on the camera body.
However, the film advance stop mechanism, the double winding preventing mechanism and the film loading mechanism in the conventional Brownie film camera described above, are all mechanically configured by levers, gear trains, and the like. In addition, the Brownie film camera has to accommodate two types of Brownie films, namely type 120 and 220, which differ in the number of frames which can be taken. Accordingly, the camera is configured to select one of two cam gears by actuacting a manual switch. Each cam gear has a different shape corresponding to one of the two film types.
The above mentioned conventional Brownie film camera system is completely mechanically configured, and consequently suffers from a number of disadvantages. Namely, the configuration is complex, high machining accuracy is required, and the number of components as well as the cost is high.